It is the conventional practice for packets of cigarettes to be packaged in multiples using rigid carton type wrappers of substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape presenting a front face and a rear face interconnected by two flank faces joined along respective sharp longitudinal corner edges.
In particular, the rigid wrapper to which the invention relates is of the type with a hinged lid, consisting in a container of cupped embodiment surmounted by a similarly cupped lid hinged to a rear edge of the selfsame container and rotatable thus between an open position and a closed position on the container.
Such a wrapper normally comprises a top end and a bottom end, a back appearing as a continuous rear face divided into two parts by a transverse hinge line connecting the lid to the container, a front appearing as two distinct portions constituting the front face of the container, and two flank faces each appearing as two portions separated by a break line and constituting one flank of the container and one flank of the lid, respectively.
The container and lid making up a rigid wrapper of the type described above are fashioned normally by bending a single diecut blank of cardboard along relative crease lines, and the wrapper is furnished generally with a frame, also of cardboard, inserted partly into the container and breasted in contact with the inside of front faces and the flank faces of the selfsame container.
The portion of the frame that projects externally of the container functions essentially as a means of reinforcing and retaining the lid when in the closed position.
It has been observed that there is a drawback associated with the use of this traditional type of carton, namely the amount of waste paper material generated per single wrapper; considering also the high numbers of such wrappers produced, the amount of waste is significant and the cost of manufacture thus increased as a result.
The object of the present invention is to set forth a rigid wrapper for a plurality of packets of cigarettes requiring a quantity of material for its manufacture less than that required for a similar parallelepiped wrapper of conventional embodiment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a rigid wrapper for a plurality of packets of cigarettes having a distinctive visual impact, compared to a conventional parallelepiped wrapper with sharp corner edges.